Ontario International has apparently recovered from the pandemic.
The airport handled more than 5.7 million passengers in 2022, topping 2019 – the last pre-pandemic year – by 2.8 percent, according to data released Thursday.
More than 90,000 tons of freight and mail passed through the airport last year, outperforming 2019 ’s cargo load by nearly nine percent and keeping Ontario International among the top cargo airports in North America.
“We experienced great demand for air travel through Ontario International in 2022 with passenger levels exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the entire calendar year,” said Atif Elkadi, the Ontario International Airport Authority’s chief executive officer, in a statement
“Our airline partners restored air services suspended because of the pandemic while adding new routes and increased flight frequencies.”
Ontario International’s passenger count has gone up nearly 36 percent since the airport returned to local control in November, 2016, according to the statement.